Protein Water is not a product I knew existed until I saw it, I think it was in a supermarket near the energy drinks. It’s been sitting in the fridge at work for a while. There is a lot going on with this product. It is trying to be everything to everyone, I think.

The flavour is Grape Ice Pop, which is basically “grape soda” or “purple drank”. But it calls itself “Protein Water”. Whilst it tasted fine as a grape flavoured drink, I would not call it “water” any more than I would any other soda drink. It is a sparkling soda, and I guess soda water is still water. But the texture and taste of this really didn’t scream “water” to me at all. In fact it felt thicker and more syrupy than most drinks.

It’s not a bad drink by any shot, but I don’t think comparing it to water is very accurate, other than water being an ingredient in it, and it also being a liquid. The fact that it is zero sugar is great, but it does taste very sweet, which seems to be due to the sucralose sweetener in its ingredients.

I found that putting “dairy free” on the front to be especially odd. Isn’t most water dairy-free? Aren’t most grape-flavoured drinks dairy-free? It’s obviously good news for those who can’t have dairy. But I don’t think many people who are looking for this product would be expecting it to have dairy in it.

Overall, this seems like a good drink for those who don’t get enough protein in their diets, however, I don’t think it is classed as vegan as it contains “Hydrolysed Collagen Peptides (Bovine)”, which is sourced from cows. Perhaps that’s why they say “dairy free” as it has no milk in it. Rather than “Cow-free” as it still contains cows.